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“Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the identical as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.